CALIFORNIA, ALABAMA COUNTIES REEMERGE AS 'JUDICIAL HELLHOLES,'
JOINING PERENNIALS IN WEST VIRGINIA, FLORIDA AND ILLINOIS

Baltimore, St. Louis, Southeast Texas and Still Improving Madison County, IL, Cited on Report's 'Watch List' As High Court Rulings in
Massachusetts, Missouri Rate 'Dishonorable Mentions'

Washington, DC, December 16, 2008 -- The American Tort Reform Foundation today released its annual Judicial Hellholes® report, naming some of the nation's "most unfair civil court jurisdictions," including perennial "Hellholes" West Virginia, South Florida and Cook County, Illinois; relative newcomers Clark County, Nevada, and Atlantic County, New Jersey; as well as Los Angeles County, California, and Alabama's Macon and Montgomery counties, which are returning to the unwanted spotlight after respective absences.

The report also cites several "Watch List" jurisdictions that are on the cusp - "they may fall into the Hellholes abyss or rise to the promise of Equal Justice Under Law" - in the Rio Grande Valley and Gulf Coast of Texas; the once notorious Madison County, Illinois; Baltimore, Maryland; St. Louis (the City of), and St. Louis and Jackson counties, Missouri. Also noted less severely as "other areas to watch" were Orange County, California; St. Clair County, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; Seattle, Washington; New Orleans, Louisiana; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the states of Minnesota and Oklahoma.

"Lawsuit abuse continues to have a negative impact on the nation's economy, as well as particular state economies," began ATRF president Tiger Joyce. "Every dollar spent defending against a speculative lawsuit is a dollar that won't be spent on research and development, capital investment, worker training or job creation. Unfortunately for those living in Hellholes jurisdictions during this economic downturn, it can be that much harder to find or keep a job and get critical health care services as employers and doctors are driven away by the threat of costly litigation."

American Tort Reform Association general counsel Victor Schwartz explained that, "In an effort to educate the public, our Judicial Hellholes report documents specific problems with certain judges in some of America's most unbalanced civil courts while also offering solutions to those problems."

"As those problems evolve," Joyce added, "our report must evolve, too. And because several powerful and influential plaintiffs' lawyers went to prison this year for their efforts to corrupt our civil justice system, we've added a new 'Rogues' Gallery' section as a not-so-subtle reminder to Congress about its investigative responsibilities."

The report also includes two additional sections entitled "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Tort Deform," Joyce said.

"The Dangerous Liaisons section details the increasingly common contractual relationships between some state attorneys general and their leading political patrons: personal injury lawyers," continued Joyce. "Too often these arrangements are governed by non-competitive contracts that are negotiated behind closed doors, and the contingency fees upon which these contracts are typically based give private lawyers, backed by state authority, a pernicious incentive to maximize the damage awards a defendant may be obligated to pay, even if civil justice is minimized in the process."

Schwartz said, "Tort Deform is what we call the coordinated efforts by the plaintiffs' bar and its allies to lobby state and federal lawmakers for 'trial lawyer earmarks' that expand liability and litigation. These typically hard-to-find provisions tucked into legislation may, for example, seek to provide new private rights of action, limit federal preemption laws, or prohibit mutually agreed upon arbitration agreements.

"But remember," Schwartz added, shifting gears, "the Judicial Hellholes report is not all bad news. Our 'Points of Light' section annually celebrates positive civil justice developments. This year's report applauds four state high court decisions that reaffirmed traditional limits on liability" in Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island, "and legislative reforms in Pennsylvania and Texas that have successfully eased critical shortages of high-risk specialty physicians."

Full text of the Judicial Hellholes® 2008/2009 report is posted at http://www.atra.org. Below are excerpted summaries of problems in this year's top three Hellholes, followed by the rest of the report's various rankings:

West Virginia
The Mountain State reclaims the #1 Judicial Hellhole ranking this year for its near perfect storm of anti-business rulings, massive lawsuits and cozy relationships between the personal injury bar, the state attorney general and some in the judiciary. The state's highest court has a history of plaintiff-friendly decisions, paying damages to those who are not injured, allowing mass trials, permitting lawsuits outside the workers' compensation system, rejecting long-established legal principles, and welcoming plaintiffs' lawyers from other states to take advantage of its generous rulings. To make matters worse, West Virginia is one of only two states that do not guarantee a right to appeal a civil verdict.

South Florida
The collective reputation for excessive awards and plaintiff-friendly rulings make Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties a proverbial launching pad for class actions, dubious claims and novel legal theories. While some judges in West Virginia and other perennial Hellholes have shown determination to make progress, too many judges in South Florida continually allow the plaintiffs' bar to push the envelope of civil justice. And with the state's high court as unpredictable as it is, there's no confidence that improper trial court rulings will be corrected on appeal.

Cook County, Illinois
Though long regarded as an environment that is hospitable to class actions and hostile to corporate defendants, Cook County has added to that reputation with a surge in new asbestos claims and a ruling that threw out a well-reasoned and much-needed 2005 state law that sought to keep doctors from leaving the state by limiting awards for noneconomic damages in medical liability litigation. The Illinois Supreme Court is reviewing that county court decision and may yet reverse it.

Full text of the Judicial Hellholes 2008/2009 report is posted at www.atra.org. The report's various rankings are summarized below.

2008/2009 Judicial Hellholes

1. West Virginia
2. South Florida
3. Cook County, Illinois
4. Atlantic County, New Jersey
5. Montgomery & Macon counties, Alabama
6. Los Angeles County, California
7. Clark County, Nevada

Watch List

• Rio Grande Valley & Gulf Coast of Texas
• Madison County, Illinois
• Baltimore, Maryland
• St. Louis (the City of), and St. Louis & Jackson counties, Missouri

Other areas to watch include: Orange County, California; St. Clair County, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; Seattle, Washington; New Orleans, Louisiana; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the states of Minnesota and Oklahoma.

Dishonorable Mentions

• Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for an egregious expansion of medical liability
• Missouri Supreme Court for gutting a long-held legal doctrine and inviting lawsuits from around the nation

Points of Light

• Maryland Court of Appeals blocks an effort to expand medical liability
• Rhode Island Supreme Court's lead-paint case ruling rejects products liability claims that masquerade as "public nuisance" lawsuits
• Pennsylvania & Texas reform laws increase access to high-risk medical care
• New Jersey & Oregon Supreme Courts insist on evidence of injuries from those seeking medical monitoring

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.